Crystal Connection

Deborah Dowson is a Canadian children’s librarian living in Powell,
Ohio.

Science Squad members Gina, Sue, and Nicole spend a week visiting
Sue’s Aunt Rose, who has a cabin near Tofino and the Pacific Rim
National Park on Vancouver Island. The girls have a chance to use a zip
line, learn orienteering, take a surfing lesson, and go whale-watching.
They also use their science skills to solve a mystery involving Rose’s
uncle’s will, and capture a thief who has been pretending to be
Rose’s friend.

The Science Squad Adventure Series evolved from stories first published
in the Canadian Association for Girls in Science newsletter and
Webisodes. In addition to a fun, interesting, and suspenseful story, the
book contains side notes that explain the various scientific concepts in
the text, such as invisible ink, light and prisms, wasps, computers,
density, and seasickness. The notes are clearly written and offer
website addresses for further information (although only two of the five
I tried yielded results). The notes also reinforce concepts introduced
in the first Science Squad book. Another notable feature of the book is
the inclusion of an experiment at the end of each chapter for the reader
to try at home. Each experiment uses common materials; has simple,
clearly detailed instructions; and provides a description of the likely
outcome. This winning combination of fiction and non-fiction will likely
increase a reader’s appreciation and awareness of science in everyday
life. Crystal Connection should be in every science collection. Highly
recommended.